Traditionally, when forming a photobase product on a paper based substrate, a polyethylene coating is extruded onto the desired substrate prior to applying an embossing roller to achieve a desired gloss. The embossing roll can be smooth to achieve high gloss or textured to achieve a variant of gloss levels. While traditional photobase methods produce the desired gloss on a desired substrate, the costs of extruding a polyethylene coating onto the desired substrate is often prohibitive for many manufacturers.